March 26, 2004

Baton Rouge, La. - This Week
The University of Houston men's and women's track and field teams travel to Baton Rouge, La. on March 26-27 to compete in the LSU Relays on March 26-27 at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium.

Houston is among 41 high school and collegiate teams from throughout the country competing at the meet. The top collegiate teams include the LSU men's and women's national indoor championship teams as well as teams from Ole Miss, Illinois, Louisiana Tech, McNeese State, New Orleans, Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana, Southern Tulane UL-Lafayete, UL-Monroe and Xavier.

Last Week
Junior Alicia Cave won both hurdle events and ran on Houston's winning 4x400-meter relay team to lead the Lady Cougars to a second-place finish at the TSU Relays. Cave won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.77 seconds and the 400-meter hurdles in 59.54 seconds. She also ran the first leg and teamed with LaDedra Guy, Renee Clarke and Keisha Howard to win the 4x400-meter relay in 3:44.67.

Howard also led Houston's efforts in the 400 meters when the Lady Cougars had the top four runners. Howard won the event in 55.47 seconds, while Clarke was second in 56.08. Jennifer Hunt had a third-place finish with a time of 57.31 seconds, while Tiffany Abney was fourth in 58.42 seconds.

Cave, Guy and Wilson teamed with Shay Coles on Houston's 4x100-meter relay that finished in second place with a time of 45.24 seconds.

Guy also had a second-place finish in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.90 seconds, while Wilson was seventh in 12.33 seconds and Coles was eighth with a time of 12.35 seconds.

Houston also had a second-place finish in the 4x200-meter relay as Coles, Guy, Caresir Hamilton and Howard combined for a time of 1:37.57.

Hamilton also had a second-place finish in the high jump with a leap of 5-6.25, and was fourth in the long jump with a mark of 5.54 meters. Nichole Brundage finished third in the high jump with a mark of 5-4.25.

Freshman Rachael Easley won the women's triple jump with a leap of 11.57 meters and was sixth in the long jump with a mark of 5.43 meters. Kelli Williams finished second in the triple jump with a mark of 11.49 seconds.

Shayla Bowman finished in second place with a mark of 50.96 meters in the hammer throw, while Tinisha Wesley opened the meet with a third-place finish in the javelin with a throw of 37.90 meters. Wesley also had a fourth-place finish in the discus with a throw of 42.13 meters behind teammate Allie Booker, who had a second place throw of 44.72 meters.

In the men's division, Maurillio Sanchez won the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:37.40 and Houston won the 4x100-meter relay with a time of 40.47 seconds.

Houston had three of the top six finishers in the pole vault as Ron Veillon won the event with a clearance of 4.85 meters. Daniel Patton was the runner up after clearing 4.70 meters and Jason Myers was third with a mark of 4.55 meters.

Jonathan Reeves won the shot put with a throw of 16.53 meters, and Tristian Whitley had a sixth-place finish in the high jump with a leap of 6-6.75.

Milton Manson finished as a the runner-up in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.21 seconds, while Andrew Carruthers was third with a time of 14.28 seconds.

Houston scored 107 points as a team and finished in third place behind Illinois and Grambling. The Fighting Illini won the meet with 267 points, while Grambling scored 153 points to finish in second place.

What's Next
Following the Tiger Relays, Houston will travel to Austin, Texas and compete in the Texas Relays on March 31-April 3.